After
by tryingtowritesomething
Summary: What happens if Dallas survived the shooting? How does life continue for the gang and who do they meet along the way?
1. Chapter 1

Molly dropped the heavy box she was holding and surveyed her new room. Luckily it was bigger than her last one, but it was older and the wallpaper was peeling slightly around the edges. She lowered herself onto the big bed which took up most of the room, it was fluffy and soft, just like the one in Dallas but it was bigger. Which meant much better sleep.

Right on cue Cindy made her way into the room, dumping her equally heavy box on the other side of the room.

"Gosh, I can't believe it. This is a way bigger house than I thought we'd get." Cindy smoothed her long blonde hair and made her way over to her sister. Sitting next to her on the bed she observed the mess her sister had managed to make in the hour they'd been there. "If you think you're gunna keep this room in the same state you did in Dallas you'll be sleepin' on the porch. Ya hear? Mom won't wanna see that mess again, neither will DJ."

Molly nudged her sister's arm. "Yeah I know. Where is the lil' bug anyways?"

"Mom's got him out in the yard. Wants ya to sort your room out first so ya can put him down later. Reckons he needs his routine after the big move."

"S'pose she's right." Molly made the move to start putting her things in their rightful place. The movers had got their furniture set up and brought in most of the boxes before they got there, but now came the joy of unpacking everything. Cindy was lucky, she only had her things to move in. Molly had that plus all of DJs stuff. Not that she minded, but there just seemed to be never ending mounds of stuff that came with a baby.

Dale Jackson, or DJ as they called him, was only 3 months old, but he was the love of the three Jackson women's lives. Molly was the eldest, her dad ran out on her mum when Molly was only one, things got too hard and too expensive so that was him. At the age of 16 Molly fell pregnant to her then boyfriend, who couldn't even make it to DJ's first birthday before running out on them. He wanted nothing to do with them. Molly gave birth to Dale not long before her 17th birthday and had grown up quickly since. Cindy was Molly's younger sister. At 14 she was the complete opposite of Molly, stunningly beautiful, tall, with long golden blonde hair and blue eyes that shone with the light of the sun. Molly was extremely jealous of Cindy. Not just for her looks but because her dad had stuck around.

Lenard looked after them both, took Molly in as his own before her mum had even fallen pregnant with Cindy. He was handsome like movie stars were, and as gentle and patient as a southern gentleman. She supposed he was a southern gentleman. Their life together was perfect until a little over a year ago. Lenard died in a freak accident at his work. A truck he'd been working on came loose and ran him over. Since then Molly and her mum Martha went into a downward spiral. But Cindy held them together. She was as kind natured as she was beautiful.

But stroppy when she wanted to be. "Molly! You're not even puttin' things away well to start with! How d'ya ever expect to keep things tidy when they never started that way." She had a strong Texan drawl, like Molly's, which got higher and higher pitched the angrier or more frustrated she was.

"Oh hush up, it'll do for now." Molly finished shoving DJs clothes into a drawer and dumped his blanket on his crib.

Molly made her way through the muddle of boxes in the lounge and through to the back porch where her mum and DJ were basking in the sun. A smoke hung lazily in her mother's mouth as she looked over her grandson.

"So ya'll unpacked?" Her mother's honey thick voice drawled with a lazy Texan accent. Everything about Molly's mum screamed redneck. But she was surprisingly well put together.

They were by no means a rich family, but her mother didn't want them living like white trash. Lenard's work gave Martha some money when Lenard died and, after she recovered slightly from the grief, decided to make the move to Tulsa. Things were cheaper here and they needed a fresh start, the last year had not been easy. Between the behaviour Martha displayed after losing her husband and her teenage daughter having a child out of wedlock it was pretty clear they weren't welcome in their old neighbourhood.

"Kinda, Cindy is flippin' out over all the stuff. But she'll deal with it." Molly made her way over and flopped down on the blanket next to her son and started tickling his belly.

"You better start helpin' your sister out round here. Ya hear?" Martha pointed her smoke at Molly, "I start at the bar tomorrow afternoon so ya'll need to keep this house runnin'."

"Yeah I know, s'pose I'll need to get a job as well."

"I'd prefer it if you went back to school Molly."

This topic had been a sticking point in their relationship recently. After Lenard died Martha hit the drink, Molly did too. She dropped out of school, spent all her time hanging around with guys and ended up getting into a few hairy situations. When they found out Molly was pregnant they kind of came to their senses. Martha set plans in motion to move to Tulsa and wanted Molly to go back to school. Molly figured she'd already missed enough school and it was pointless going back.

"Mom there'll be no point, I'll be put into senior year and I won't be able to keep up-"

"You need to think about Dale and how you're gunna look after him long term."

"You managed just fine with us."

"Yeah totally." Martha rolled her eyes and got up. "Just finish unpacking, you'll needa put him down soon."

"Whatever." Molly muttered under her breath as Martha made her way inside. Molly had a long night ahead of her, unpacking, cooking, and looking after Dale, but she was kind of excited to go looking for a job tomorrow.

-:-:-:-

The door to his bedroom opened, letting in the light he'd spent all morning trying to ignore.

"What?!" He rolled over in his bed, shoving a pillow across his face.

"Dally, we need to talk."

"Fuck off kid." Dallas didn't remove the pillow from his face. He didn't want to see the kid, not after everything. After all he had spent the last month avoiding the gang. The rest of the boys understood and left him to it. Ponyboy on the other hand was persistent. Dally couldn't figure out whether it was guilt or worry that led him to his door every few days, he figured probably a mix of both.

"This time I ain't goin'." Dally could hear Ponyboy shut the door and make his way over to the bed.

"I don't care what you do kid but you ain't comin' in my bed." Dallas finally pulled the pillow off his face and sat up. Pony looked drawn and sick, but he was dressed in his good suit.

The court case was today.

Pony sat on the chair across from Dal's bed. The two boys sat in silence for a moment until the older of the two couldn't take it anymore.

"Well?..."

"Oh, Soda, Darry and I are allowed to stay together. They figured my involvement in everythin' was accidental. Pretty much blamed it all on…" Pony shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Johnny."

Dallas looked away. "Yeah, well… that's good I s'pose."

The pair sat in uncomfortable silence again, but Pony couldn't bear it for long, funny he thought seeing as usually he didn't mind being quiet.

"Dallas, come to the Dingo with me. The guys wanna see ya, we needa all face it apparently."

"I don't need to face shit." Pony knew not to push the older boy but this had gone on too long. Dallas didn't even go to Johnny's funeral. He'd been let out of prison the day before but he just went to Buck's and that's where he'd stayed since. Didn't work, didn't leave the building, barely left his room other than to get more booze. Everyone tried to come and get him, Soda had spent several nights down at Buck's trying to convince Dal to come over, Steve and Two-Bit took it in turns as well. Darry had tried convincing Dal to come to the funeral the day he got out, but he came home later that night and wouldn't say much, although the black eye he was sporting said enough. Pony came by every few days, but this was the longest he'd managed to stay without Dal throwing him out. Most he had talked too.

"I ain't no psychologist but I do know you're gunna go crazy stayin' in here much longer." Pony got up, he walked over to Dally's drawers and pulled out a clean-ish shirt, threw it at Dally and moved to the door. "You got 5 minutes." He stood out in the hallway, he could hear Dally mumbling curses under his breath but he did hear movement so his new forthright approach was having an effect.

A couple of minutes later Dally appeared at his door, wrinkled jeans and shirt and mussed up hair, but he was up. Dally slung his jacket on a followed Pony down the stairs, grabbing a packet of smokes off the hall dresser as they passed.

Pony noticed Dal struggling to light his smoke, he couldn't move his left arm up enough to light it. He eventually got it, scowling when he noticed Pony eyeing him.

"How's the arm?"

"Fine. We goin' to the Dingo or what?"

-:-:-:-

"Oh my gosh that is the fifth shop so far who don't have openings, I'm never gunna find a job." Molly flopped onto the bench next to her sister who was happily rolling the pram back and forward.

"Maybe you'll just have to go to back to school after all." Cindy grinned.

"No way. There's a diner over there I'll try, probably better hours available than a shop. Plus we can grab some lunch while we're there."

The girls made their way into the diner with Molly leading the way.

"Hi, is the manager available?"

The tall blonde behind the counter looked up from the pad she had been doodling on. "Sorry doll he's not in till tonight."

"Oh, can I leave a job application for him?"

"Are you fast?" The tall blonde eyed Molly. Making her self-conscious. Molly knew she was an attractive girl, both her and her sister had inherited their blue doe eyes and supple lips from their mom, but Molly was short, and curvy, more so since she'd had Dale. Not overweight but bigger than she used to be.

"Uh… sure."

With another eyeball the blonde, said on her name tag Patty, looked over to Cindy and Dale and back to Molly. "That your baby?"

Molly sighed inside, she knew this was where the judgement was going to come in. "Yeah he is."

"My daughter must only be a few months older than your little one." She cooed over the counter at Dale in is pram before looking back at Molly. "Leave me your name and number, we need a new waitress for a few evening shifts. I'll make sure we call you."

"Oh cool, thank you!" Molly could hardly contain her excitement. "We're gunna grab some lunch while we're here, that ok?"

"Yeah sure, grab a booth I'll be over in a moment."

The girls made their way to a booth by the window, next to some rather handsome guys coincidentally. The three guys were talking loudly, messing around with their fries, Molly caught them eyeing her as they walked past. She couldn't tell if they were looking at her, or the baby.

Patty made her way over with a couple of menus as she passed the boys booth one of them slapped her butt.

"Mind yourself there Two-Bit, I'll bar ya again if ya keep it up." She gave a giggle as she wagged her finger at him.

"Whatever doll, you know ya love it."

Patty passed the menus down. "Don't mind them, there just the local hoods." She gave an exaggerated nod to the three guys. "They're actually quite nice. You two new around here then?"

"Yeah we just moved up from Dallas yesterday."

The door bell chimed as two more boys made their way into the diner. Patty turned around to check out the new customers. "Speakin' of Dallas…"


	2. Chapter 2

Dally could feel the eyes of the other diner customers on him as he walked over to his friends, Pony shuffling in behind him. The three other boys slid further into the booth, eyes drawn away from the new girls and to their long absent friend.

"Dallas man, hey." The most handsome of the group offered his hand.

"Soda, how's it going?" Dallas accepted the handshake roughly. He was feeling out of his depth, seeing his friends all together in one place was a bit much.

The four other boys, Ponyboy, Steve, Two-Bit and Soda were all in high spirits. This was due to the Curtis brothers winning the court case which had been hanging over them since everything went down. Inside he knew he was happy for them, but seeing them all here together, without… Johnny, was tough.

"Alright man, you?" Soda moved over letting his friend slump down next to him. "How's the arm?"

"Yeah good, haven't been back to the docs, but I've had worse." Dallas scoped around, facing the door he could see anyone coming in, just to be on the lookout.

Pony eyed Dallas, he knew he was on edge, but he wasn't in much of a state to fight anyone. The bullet had missed his heart and hit his shoulder on impact. It was a clean wound, the officer had shot to kill, but luckily he didn't have good aim.

The boys made uncomfortable small talk for a few minutes while Patty took their order, they lost interest in the new girls.

"So what's been goin' on? With the Socs?" Dallas had been out of the loop for a while, he'd figured staying away from other people would be good until his anger died down.

"Been quiet man, Randy and Cherry both spoke at our hearing, said how it was Bob's fault everything went down." Sodapop gave Dallas a limp smile.

"'Course some of Bob's other buddies ain't so forgivin'. My sister reckons there's been some interestin' stuff goin' down at school. Had to drive her in a few days last week, didn't want her walkin' alone." Two-Bit seemed serious, which Dal noted was unusual for his normally upbeat friend.

"Huh, well they won't wanna try much." Dallas finished the last of his fries before slurping down his coke, it was as if he hadn't eaten in a month. Although he probably hadn't.

"Dal I wouldn't be so cocky, there's still a bounty on your head." Steve warned.

"Yeah well," Dallas trailed off, "couldn't really give a shit these days."

-:-:-:-

Molly eyed the boys behind her as they left, commenting to her sister, "they sure looked serious."

"Yeah, good lookin' guys though, that one facing us was a real doll."

"I dunno, the older one that walked in was pretty hot."

"I'd watch yourself with that lot if I were you." Patty came over to clear their table.

"Why's that?" Molly watched them as they swaggered across the car park.

Patty sighed exaggeratedly and slid in next to Molly, fussing over Dale in his pram she started, "Well, just over a month ago the younger one, Ponyboy," she paused to acknowledge the girls' surprise at his name, "and his friend Johnny killed a Soc."

Molly interrupted, "Soc?"

"Social, rich kids, from the South Side. Anyway this guy had it comin', had to get my ex to escort him outta here one day. The Soc guys are entitled and spoilt. Bob got what was comin' to him. He jumped Pony and Johnny in the park one night and Johnny stabbed him. They were such sweet kids too, Pony's not been the same since."

"What happened to Johnny?" Cindy's interest had peaked, nothing like a good bit of gossip to get her on side.

"Well they ended up hiding out in Jacksonville, not far from here, and there was a fire one day while they were out and when they got back Pony and Johnny ran in and saved some school kids who were in the building. Even Dallas did."

"Dallas?" Molly had finished watching the boys cross the car park and turned her attention back to Patty.

"Winston, Dallas Winston. The older guy who came in, the one you were clearly lookin' at." She winked. "He's a bit of a local hood, the rest of the guys he buddies round with are great, but Dallas ain't just a Greaser, he's into fightin', drinkin', racin' and women." Patty sighed again and looked solemn. "But they did what they did, pretty admirable, don't know many other guys round here that would do the same. Poor Johnny got burnt pretty bad and he didn't make it." She rubbed Dale's little belly as he wriggled in his pram and moved to get up. "Dallas and him were pretty close from what I've heard, and he ended up gettin' into it with the cops and got shot. Haven't seen him since till today."

"Some story. Guess livin' round here is pretty fast movin'." Molly tried to lighten up the situation.

"You could say that." Patty picked up the money Molly left for the bill. "I'll make sure Mr Lewis calls ya."

"Thanks, could really do with the money." Molly ushered Cindy in front of her and started pushing the pram.

"I know how that feels." Patty smiled as the two girls left and went back to cleaning up the few tables that had been occupied.

-:-:-:-

"Oh that's perfect, thank you so much… yeah… I'll see you then… thanks." Molly turned to her sister. "I got the job! Workin' three nights a week for now, we'll see how we go from there."

"Oh well done! Mom'll be pretty happy then."

"Why's that?"

"Means you can go to school during the day then!" Cindy cackled and made her way back to her room.

Molly rolled her eyes and went over to pick up Dale who was ready for a bottle before bed. Molly watched the clock as she got DJ ready for sleep, he was starting to sleep through for about 5 or 6 hours now but she had to be careful she didn't put him down too early or she'd be up at 4am when he was ready for breakfast.

Around 11:30pm Martha made her way through the door, _finally_ Molly thought, she didn't like going to bed when her mom wasn't around.

"How was your first night?" Molly passed her mom a glass of water as she threw her shoes into the rack and made her way over to the sofa. Martha had a friend who owned a bar in town so she walked straight into a job, which certainly took a load off.

"It was great, sure is busy there, I guess it is Friday night though." She gladly sipped her water before turning back to her daughter. "How'd your job search go?"

"Great, I got three evening shifts a week at the Dingo Diner in town. Starting tomorrow."

"Oh brilliant. Means you can start school with your sister on Monday."

"Mom, I really don't want to."

"Trust me it's the best plan. I won't take no for an answer, at least try it. Plus it'll help you make friends."

"Hmmm, I s'pose. Seems to be some interestin' folk round here."

Martha raised her eyebrows.

"Never mind. I'll see ya in the mornin'."

"Night peach."

"Night mom."

-:-:-:-

Yesterday had been a mistake. Dallas looked at the state in the mirror staring him down. He had spent the afternoon with the guys, but it just made him feel worse, and he didn't like thinking about Johnny, his friends did.

Buck's that night had provided a great distraction for a while, until he picked a fight he couldn't finish. It wasn't like Dallas to lose his bottle, but what with his arm and his mind working against him he ended up getting his ass handed to him.

He didn't care though, he managed to let off some steam.

He thought he was crazy deciding to go out again today, but he hadn't realised how much he'd missed decent food, not that you could call the Dingo's menu decent. But it was better than the scraps he'd been living off at Buck's.

After cleaning himself up he made his way into town, it was a 10minute walk to the Dingo from Buck's, one he didn't usually mind taking, but after hearing what had been happening during his absence, combined with his stellar fighting abilities as displayed last night, he wasn't really keen to get jumped. But he kept his head down and made it to the Dingo without incident.

Dally managed to find a seat far away from the other diners, 3pm on a Saturday it'd be getting busy soon, but the lunch crowd had just left and the dinner crowd would be in by 5pm so he figured he had enough time for a quick burger before he had to talk to anyone.

He could see Patty talking to some new brunette, they both looked his way and then back to their notepads. The brunette looked nervous, he would be too if Patty was in charge of him, she was feisty. He smirked to himself and went back to looking at his menu.

"What can I get for ya today sir?"

Dallas looked up to see the brunette looking eagerly at him. He had to stifle a snort of laughter before responding. "Sir?"

A brief flash of panic flashed behind the brunette's eyes, the brunette's sultry blue eyes, before she fixed a decidedly impassive expression on her face.

"Yeah? Sir? I don't know your name. Manners don't cost anythin'."

"I don't think I've been called sir once in my life." He looked behind the brunette at Patty who'd made her way over to help, she'd probably sensed that Dallas was going to mess around. "Have I Patty?"

Patty gave him a look of derision. "I can think of many names to call ya Winston, and sir sure ain't one of 'em."

"Ah don't be like that doll."

"Well I could call ya hero after all." Patty winked, happy at having tried to make him feel guilty.

Dallas looked down. "I'll have a cheeseburger, fries and a coke."

The brunette scribbled down some notes. "Sure think. Anythin' else?"

Dallas just shook his head. The brunette made her way back to the counter with Patty, he watched her with mild interest as she went about her task of processing his order. New girl in town, could be a fun way to spend some time. She wasn't bad looking, her blue dress clung to her body in all the right places, brunette hair slicked back into a ponytail, he figured it'd look good hanging down. And her ass, well he had watched it as she walked away.

It had been a while since he'd really thought about girls. Right about now he'd usually make some filthy comment about her to rile Johnny up, he smirked slightly then realised that wouldn't happen again. He started thinking about the night at the drive in, the comments he'd made about Cherry before Johnny stood up to him. He started wishing he'd done something different that night, maybe Johnny and Pony would have stayed with him.

He was snapped out of his reverie when the brunette came over with his coke.

"You alright?"

He looked up and saw the concern on her face, this made him smirk once more, girls never showed concern for Dallas, it was a novelty, she obviously hadn't heard much about him.

"Yeah I'm fine doll." Still smirking on the inside he gave her the answer she was looking for. Polite for once.

"You can call me Molly." She turned and made her way back to the counter.

 **A/N: Lemme know what you think. An idea i've been toying around with for a while. This one has direction and an end point, so hopefully it'll take shape.**


	3. Chapter 3

Molly took a final look in the mirror, she figured this was as good as she'd get. School wasn't Molly's strong suit, and meeting all these new people would be weird. Patty wouldn't be going today, Molly had asked yesterday, but Patty had dropped out after she had her daughter. It would have been nice to know someone else there.

Cindy was bouncy as ever, her long blonde hair in a ponytail she had a blue skirt and black top on, Molly had to laugh. Cindy looked as if she was ready to go for head cheerleader. Molly on the other hand had her dark curly hair hanging loose, save for the red bandanna pushing her fringe back. Molly had gone for a slightly more relaxed look, jeans and a red shirt.

"Now you girls have fun today!" Martha waved Dale's hand as the girls walked down the path and off to school.

"Yeah… sure…" Molly let her fake smile fall as they turned at the end of the path.

"Cheer up Molls, you ain't goin' to war." Cindy sauntered off ahead.

"Sure feels like it." Molly dragged along behind, feeling her feet get heavier with every step.

-:-:-:-

Dallas rolled off the sofa and joined the rest of the commotion in the kitchen. He'd tried staying asleep when everyone was coming in, but the noise was too much.

After grabbing a plate he slumped down into a free chair and looked around at the others. It felt empty knowing that Johnny wouldn't ever sit with them again.

"So you two ready to go to school today?" Darry looked at the boys surrounding him.

Ponyboy grumbled in response, but Two-Bit was grinning from ear to ear. This was his first time as a senior, after repeating two years as a junior, it looked like he would never graduate. Dallas had started thinking his plan was to stay at school till Pony finished. What an idiot. Dallas couldn't think of a worse way to spend his time, and he spent his time in some pretty shitty places.

That got him thinking, he needed to get his hands on some cash. Buck was pretty good about letting him skip on rent, but it would start wearing thin eventually, and there's no way he was going back home.

"Uh, Soda man. Is there any jobs goin' down at the DX?" Dally rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his hair nervously.

Darry and Soda looked at each other somewhat taken aback. None of them actually knew what Dally did for money, he wasn't rich by all means, but he always managed to get by. They knew he jockeyed for Slash J, and worked for Buck from time to time. But the money he made jockeying wouldn't last long out of season, the only real way to make money doing that was to follow rodeos around, and Dal only ever did them when they were close by. And Darry was pretty sure he only worked for Buck to pay off rent rather than giving him cash. Dally was always cagey about what he did for money, so Darry had assumed it was something dodgy.

"I, uh, I dunno man. I can ask when we get down there later." Soda tried giving him a reassuring smile. "Come down later on and I'll have an answer for ya."

"Thanks man, appreciate it." Dally went back to scoffing down his breakfast.

The three working boys at the table exchanged worried looks. Decent job prospects were few and far between around Tulsa but they'd do what they could to help Dal out.

"If I came with ya to school, would ya mind if I borrowed your car for a couple hours Two-Bit?" Dally looked hopefully at his friend.

"Yeah sure man. Wouldn't mind causin' a bit of ruckus on the first day, y'know, just to let em know I'm back." Two-Bit's mischievous grin lit up the room for a few moments before Darry's voice of reason cut the boisterous boys down.

-:-:-:-

The two girls wandered aimlessly across the road, moving with the throngs of mostly greaser kids toward the large, sandy coloured building. Patty had clued Molly in on what to expect on her first day. As a senior she would be kind of at the forefront of school proceedings, especially coming from the greaser side as not a lot of greaser kids made it to senior year. Molly wasn't sure how her mom even managed to enrol her at school, but she sure wouldn't be staying long.

As they walked across the car park Molly noticed the guy from the diner leaning against a car surrounded by a few others. A couple of them she recognised from the diner on their first day. Molly couldn't help but look at Dallas Winston. Patty had warned her severely about him, but there was some charm to his crooked smile and the way he held his smoke. He just oozed confidence, with a hint of danger.

Their eyes met briefly as Molly ran to keep up with her sister, and she couldn't help but swear she caught a glimpse of a wink before she turned away.

After making sure Cindy was in the right place Molly hurried to the seniors' assembly, making it to an empty seat in the front just in the nick of time. The Principal was droning on about 'serious work', 'heads down', 'party later' and other such clichés, when there was a series of bangs and flashes running down the hallway outside the gym. The Principal and the few form teachers that were there ran into the hallway, being greeted by a cloud of thick smoke. Molly giggled along with everyone else as they heard a couple of whoops and the Principal's yelling.

A few seconds later someone appeared at Molly's side. It was one of the guys from the diner the other day.

"Mind movin' up a bit doll face?" The puffed out guy was trying to squidge in next to Molly.

Molly obliged, noticing his heavy breathing and puffed out appearance, figuring he must have just been running late to class. Just as he settled in the Principal came blustering back into the room.

"Whoever that was will have hell to pay! As seniors I expect better from you, at least to set a good example to the younger hooligans we have enrolled here." A couple of people giggled at this remark. Mr Jameson made his way back to the front of the bleachers, looking over the group with disdain as he did so. "Ah, Mr Matthews, you've finally joined us in Senior Year." Mr Jameson slowly made his way over to where Molly and Two-Bit were sitting.

"I figured it was 'bout time. Didn't want the senior form teachers to miss out." Two-Bit winked at the Principal and gave a cackle.

"Hmm, yes I would hate for them to miss out." He eyed Two-Bit up curiously. "That little stunt in the hallway wouldn't have anything to do with you would it Mr Matthews?"

"What stunt? Y'know I'd never do anythin' to hurt this place. I love it here!" Several of the other Greasers in the audience gave a good cackle at that. Two-Bit was the oldest student in the room, he had originally started school with the current seniors' older siblings. The length of his stay combined with his numerous and hilarious pranks and jokes, Two-Bit was a Will Rogers High School legend.

"Funny, I don't remember seeing you before the firecrackers in the hall."

"I've been here the whole time." Two-Bit mocked insult at his Principal's insinuations.

"So if I ask the new Ms Jackson here if she's been sitting next to you from the beginning she'd say yes?" Mr Jameson looked over at Molly.

"Naturally."

"Well Ms Jackson?"

Molly shifted uncomfortably in her seat, firstly because she knew she wouldn't be able to get away with much this year if Mr Jameson already knew her name, just because she's the new kid. Then because she had no idea what to do. Molly didn't really care about school so lying for 'Mr Matthews' wasn't really a big deal. However if she was caught and kicked out on her first day at this new school she'd never hear the end of it from her mother.

'Mr Matthews' and Mr Jameson were looking expectantly at Molly, she took a deep breath and answered. "Yes sir, we've been chatting this whole time."

Molly could almost feel the boy relax next to her, Mr Jameson on the other hand looked ready to blow his lid. He turned around and stormed off towards the centre of the bleachers again, muttering under his breath as he did so.

"You, doll face, are a lifesaver!"


End file.
